In the passenger cabins of aircraft an increasingly important component is the provision of passenger entertainment systems, mobile telephone services, laptop power and computer communications connectivity. To improve service, airlines are retrofitting existing aircraft and ordering newly built aircraft with audio and video entertainment on demand, telephone, intercom, television, video games, internet, email and electrical power supply for laptop computers, especially in business class and first class areas to permit passengers to work during the flight, communicate or seek entertainment.
One way of installing equipment and wiring for such systems is to disengage floor panels from the beams supporting the passenger cabin floor. The wiring is run between passenger seats and various computer servers or other electronic equipment under the floor panels. After installation the floor panels are reattached to the floor beams.
A particular concern with installing equipment in an aircraft is that any modification to the aircraft structure could weaken the structure or introduce stress concentrations that lead to metal fatigue and crack propagation. Therefore when installing new equipment in an existing aircraft, drilling holes in floor beams to mount wiring and equipment requires approval from government regulatory inspectors, requires a high degree of accuracy and is generally not preferred for these reasons which add cost and delay. Future aircraft will have carbon fibre structural members as opposed to aluminium sections now used. Therefore in the future modification of carbon fibre members will be prohibited or severely restricted to avoid irreparable damage to delicate carbon fibre materials.
In a newly built aircraft the manufacturer can provide for mounting brackets and holes in floor beams as part of the original design of the aircraft structure. However such designs do not provide for flexibility in relocating wiring or equipment, during manufacturing or afterwards during the service life of the aircraft.
Accordingly it is desirable to have cable raceways, mounting brackets for wires, cables, conduits and the like that can be attached and removed from aircraft floor beams without modifying the floor beams in any way.
It is further desirable that such mounting systems be low cost, be of standard or universal design and be as lightweight as possible for an aircraft application. Features that distinguish the present invention from the background art will be apparent from review of the disclosure, drawings and description of the invention presented below.